Independence
by RayvnAshes2
Summary: Carla makes a careless comment, and Wendy finally stands up for herself. slight Carla-bashing, but not much. Rated T to be safe


**Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail.**

**Warning: some Carla-bashing**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

"Oh, child, don't be ridiculous!" Carla scoffed, rolling her eyes. "This job is much too dangerous for you to handle!"

Wendy narrowed her eyes at the white exceed she'd raised from a hatchling, since Wendy was four years old (AN: I'm guessing at her age).

"You always wanted me to be more assertive…" Wendy whispered to herself with a sigh, turning to look Carla in the eye. "I don't appreciate the fact that you're always tearing me down."

Carla's eyes widened in shock, and she flew backwards slightly. She was about to respond, but Wendy continued before she could get a word in.

"I know that I'm shy and clumsy and get nervous too quickly, you don't have to constantly remind me. I know that my magic is weaker than Natsu, Gajeel, and Laxus'. Laxus is incredibly strong even without using his dragon slayer magic, and Natsu and Gajeel had much more time with their dragons than I did, not to mention the fact that Igneel and Metalicana were far harsher taskmasters. That doesn't mean that I can't get stronger, though. Sky magic has so diverse, and I could probably last longer than anyone if it's down to whose magic can hold out longer."

"Child, I know that, but—"

"But nothing, Carla." Wendy said with a sad smile. "You act so mature, like Pantherlily, it's easy to forget that you're no older than Happy, and that I'm years older than you. I raised you, yet you act like it's the other way around and act really bossy. I don't need another mother, I already have one. I need someone to help me be more confident in myself, but you don't do that. If you're not scolding me, you're telling me that I'm not good enough to do something, or causing me to doubt myself, which doesn't help."

"I _am _a strong mage." The dark haired blunette said firmly, standing up. "I am the daughter of the great sky dragon, Grandineey. I am the last sky dragon slayer, and the only one who can match me in my domain is Chelia, a sky god slayer. Despite my supposed weakness I've pulled through in numerous situations, and come out on top. I mastered the techniques in the book Porlyusica gave me within a year, even though it was meant to take me at least five. I've been pushed down, but I've always been able to pull myself back up, because Fairy Tail gives me the strength to do so. However, if I want to be able to take of myself when I don't have the guild behind me, I need to start improving, and I can't do that when you refuse to _allow_ me to do things that would help me improve!"

Seeing that Carla had no response to that (she was in shock), Wendy stood up and went towards the job request board, choosing the mission that had started this whole thing. Mirajane automatically approved it, glancing at Wendy with a small, encouraging smile, before the blunette walked out of the hall.

* * *

Three days later, Wendy skipped happily into the guild hall with a beaming smile, settling herself at the bar, and ordering herself a blueberry smoothie to celebrate her first mission alone.

"It went well, I take it?" Mirajane asked with a smile.

"Yes." Wendy assured with a giggle. "I actually finished the day I arrived."

"Really?" Mirajane asked, tilting her head curiously. "Why not come back sooner?"

"Well, the monster managed to hurt some people before I got there…" Wendy said sadly. "I volunteered to help out in the medical tent."

* * *

Wendy smiled to herself as she thought about her first mission.

Honestly, it had gone a lot better than she had expected. The monster, as it turned out, used fire magic, and while that was more Natsu's area, Wendy had realized that by cutting off the air around the monster, she could neutralize its magical attacks. The physical attacks weren't much of a problem, either, since she was used to training with Team Natsu.

It was nice to be able to use her healing magic to help out the villagers, too. Being in Fairy Tail, she had a lot of practice healing burns and various other injuries, and she'd even been able to help a young girl with amnesia get her memory back, like with Erigor and the Zentopia Archbishop.

The villagers had been so grateful that, despite Wendy's embarrassed 'I'm happy to help!', they gifted her with an ornate scroll that had, of all things, information on Sky Dragon Slayer magic!

Not only had she earned another resource to get stronger, but she had been able to help people doing what she did best, and proving Carla wrong had caused Wendy's confidence to build back up a bit, realizing that she didn't have to depend on the exceed so much.

All in all, it was a good day.

* * *

Carla glanced at Wendy, biting her lip.

She didn't want to admit that she was in the wrong. Wendy was just a twelve year old child!

However...she couldn't deny Wendy's arguments. How was she meant to grow stronger when Carla did everything in her power to prevent her from trying? And the blunette _did_ look happier than Carla had seen her in awhile...

Maybe it was time for her to suck up her pride and apologize.

She missed her surrogate mother/sister, and most of all she missed her best friend.

* * *

**Please review!**

**Yeah, as you guys can probably tell, Carla isn't a favorite of mine. She belittles Wendy all the time, complaining about her lack of confidence while at the same time making it worse.**


End file.
